The Bureau of Internal Revenue seized more than half a million packs of cigarettes bearing fake BIR stamps.
In an interview with GMA News TV, Sonny Advincula, head of the BIR strike team, said some of the cigarette packs bore labels of a manufacturer that was not registered with the BIR.
“They labeled these as ‘Belmont,’ which is not a registered manufacturer,” he said.
The strike team conducted two raids—one on a house in Barangay Sto. Domingo in Quezon City Friday evening and another on a house on Cabatuan St. in Caloocan City early Saturday dawn.
Advincula said the team confiscated 600 boxes or 300,000 packs of fake cigarettes with either fake BIR stamps or bearing no stamps at all from the first house.
The second raid bore 500 boxes or 250,000 packs fake cigarettes with fake BIR stamps.
Each BIR stamp costs P35. This means for the first house, the owner of the cigarettes should pay BIR P105 million, including penalty, while the owner of the fake products in the second house owes the government P87.5 million for the stamps.
“We will issue the owners a letter notice immediately. They should reply within 15 days. And then we will file a case with the Department of Justice if the evidence so warrant,” Advincula said.